TECHNOLOGY

Brand-building consultant Denise Lee Yohn has released her annual “Brands to Watch” list for 2017. There are 26 companies on the list, with retail and social media brands accounting for 10 of the spots.  Here’s a review:   Barnes & Noble. The venerable bookstore chain has let its CEO go, lowered sales expectations, and shrunk its footprint by dozens of stores. Meanwhile Amazon Books is opening stores. Is 2017 the year B&N’s death will become imminent?!  

At analyst and investor conference, the retailer says it will expand its home improvement reach.   Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock kicked off his presentation at the chain’s analyst and investor conference with the phrase: “To help people love where they live.”  

High-tech purchases could account for a major portion of consumer holiday spending this year — and they will be placed by high-tech shoppers.   This prediction was made in a report by UPS, “2016 UPS How to Click with High-Tech Online Shoppers.”     

Coop Italia, Italy’s largest supermarket chain, is looking to reinvent the customer experience in grocery shopping.    In collaboration with Accenture, the retailer has opened a flagship in Milan that merges the physical and digital to recreate the atmosphere of local open-air markets. Billed as the “supermarket of the future,” the store uses innovative digital solutions that provide product information, improve store navigation and engage customers.      

PayPal tapped noted designer Jonathan Adler to personalize gift cards for the payment company’s person-to-person (P2P) payment service. Consumers who opt to use the service to give  money to friends and family, can now choose from six exclusive yet customizable digital holiday and generic gifting cards — a move that personalizes their “gift of money,” and adds a chic touch to an often impersonal gift option.  

Physical stores aren’t going away — at least not those who are integrating mobile solutions into the store experience to keep up with today’s tech-savvy shoppers.   Stores that have digitized their operations through mobility are exceeding customer expectations, according to the “The Future Store Manifesto — 2016 Scorecard,” from Boston Retail Partners, which finds that 78% of retailers plan to use mobile point-of-sale (POS) by 2018.  

Domino’s is rewarding loyalty members with a “piece of the pie” — literally.    Starting Dec. 5 through Nov. 2017, all Domino’s Piece of the Pie Rewards members are eligible for a chance to win 10 free shares of Domino's stock, just for being enrolled in the program. Each month, 25 loyalty members will be randomly selected to win 10 shares of stock. They can keep the shares for their own stock portfolio or sell them at market price, the company said.